Tag: N.J. towns

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N.J. towns get big break in required number of affordable housing units

Projects_theridgewoodblog

BY SALVADOR RIZZO

STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD
 New Jersey’s suburban towns got a big break Monday in the number of affordable housing units that must be built over the next decade, as a state appeals panel overturned a court order that could have added thousands of units to developers’ plans.
State law continues to mandate that cities and suburbs allow the development of low-income housing.
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Talks under way in Trenton to avoid tax battle between hospitals, N.J. towns like Ridgewood

valley_hospital_theridgewoodblog
FEBRUARY 9, 2016, 6:37 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016, 6:38 PM
BY JOHN C. ENSSLIN AND LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

Talks are under way to avert a potentially protracted tax battle between non-profit hospitals and the communities that host them, said the prime sponsor of a bill that tried unsuccessfully last month to work out a solution.

Assemblyman John Burzichelli said Tuesday that talks are underway between the New Jersey Hospital Association and the New Jersey League of Municipalities with the aim of helping redraft legislation in the wake of a landmark Tax Court ruling that called into question the property tax exemption of non-profit hospitals.

He said there have been no talks thus far with the administration on the issue, nor does he expect any while Christie is pursuing his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Christie vetoed the earlier bill in January at the end of the last legislative session.

Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, the chair of the Assembly’s appropriations committee, said he and three other co-sponsors recently resubmitted the bill, but added that the document likely will serve as a “place holder” until a revised bill can be worked out.

“Everybody’s regrouped coming out of the hectic last session,” Burzicelli said of the informal talks.

But he warned if no agreement can be reached, “it’ll be a field day for the tax attorneys.”

The bill stemmed from a state Tax Court decision last summer in which a judge invalidated the non-profit Morristown Medical Center’s property tax exemption. The hospital’s parent company agreed to pay $15.5 million to satisfy back taxes and interest plus make annual payment of about $1 million as tax on the for-profit component of its operations.

The Record Read more